Hundreds to turn out for forced adoptions apology in NSW

ABOUT 150,000 babies were taken from young, single mums in the 50s, 60s and 70s. Now the government says sorry.

AAPSeptember 20, 201212:08pm

Source:The Daily Telegraph

NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell has said sorry for the &quot;years of pain and grief&quot; caused to mothers and to their children who were removed in past forced adoptions.

Delivering an historic apology at a joint sitting of parliament on Wednesday, the premier said the practice had "reverberated through the lives of ten of thousands of mothers and their children who were removed".

More than a hundred people witnessed the apology from public galleries in the upper and lower house, and from the Strangers Dining Room.

Following an emotional reading from a mother, Lyn, whose son was forcibly adopted, Mr O'Farrell said the parliament acknowledged "the terrible wrongs that were done, and with profound sadness and remorse say to those living with ongoing grief and pain, we are sorry".

"The trauma induced by the forced adoption practices in the past has reverberated through the lives of ten of thousands of mothers, and their children who were removed," he told parliament.

"It's affected fathers who were never given a say, as well as the families who never knew of the truth of what went on with brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews or grandchildren they lost.

"It caused years of pain and grief for many instead of the joy and delight which parenthood might reasonably have been expected to bring."

The NSW apology follows similar apologies from the South Australian and Western Australian parliaments.

An estimated 150,000 Australian babies born between the 1950s and 1970s were taken from their mostly young and single mothers.

NSW Opposition Leader John Robertson said "there can be no excuse, there can be no justification" for the state-sanctioned forced adoptions of the past.

"Today we must step forward and take responsibility," Mr Robertson said.

"This single, barbaric act - fraying the sacred bond between mother and child - changed lives, and in many cases it destroyed them.

"On behalf of the NSW Labor opposition I rise to join with the government to say clearly and unequivocally to all those affected by the policy of forced adoption, we are sorry."

"We apologise to the mothers who were not asked or listened to.

"We apologise for making you feel ashamed and unfit to care for your babies.

"We say sorry for treating you cruelly and insensitively when what you needed and deserved most was care and support."

Mr O'Farrell apologised to those who had been forcibly adopted as children "who grew up never knowing the truth of your birth or how much you were wanted or loved by your mothers".

The apology was long overdue, he said.

"I hope your journey of recovery of healing is made easier by what you've heard."

NSW Family and Community Services Minister Pru Goward said a NSW parliamentary inquiry in 2000 had called the practice of forced adoptions unethical and unlawful.

Thursday's apology acknowledged the trauma and pain caused by the thousands of forced adoptions, she said.

"It is true that there were thousands of young women in NSW who were persuaded or manipulated to accept that adoption was in the best interest of their child, but there are an unknown number for whom the persuasion became coercion - they are part of this apology," Ms Goward said.

She said there were women who have told of signing adoption papers under heavy sedation when they didn't understand what they were doing.

"Others have claimed they were browbeaten over days, or their signatures forged or not even collected. Some have said they were told their babies had died, only to find out years later it was all a lie.

"They are part of this apology," Ms Goward said.

One woman, Lyn, read a three-minute poem describing the pain and despair she has had to suffer after being forced to give up her son.

Fighting back tears and anger, Lyn told MPs and those in the public gallery that the grief of losing her son had not eased over the years.

"I lost the child for whom I grieve ... you forced us to live apart," she said.

"One thing I need you to know, pain ever-lasting does not show.

"To the outside world there is no sign, but the child you stole was mine."